Diddy honoured with Global Icon Award at 2023 MTV VMAs

Diddy was honoured with the Global Icon Award at the 2023 MTV VMAs, which is being held at New Jersey’s Prudential Center tonight (September 12).

The rapper and producer was introduced on stage by Mary J. Blige, who paid tribute to the honoree before he delivered a performance of songs from across his career.

• READ MORE: Here are all the winners from the 2023 MTV VMAs

Among the tracks aired by Diddy were ‘Bad Boy For Life’, ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’, and ‘Last Night’. Keyshia Cole joined the star for the latter song.

Afterwards, Diddy collected his award from Blige and his daughter Chance. “This is what’s up,” he said. “Love wins, y’all. Love wins. Man, this is so surreal I appreciate y’all coming and just even giving me my flowers and celebrating me.

Keyshia Cole joins #Diddy on the #VMAs stage to perform "Last Night" peak performance pic.twitter.com/SoRIVMVkkB

— DripMarvelSpoilers (@Dripmarvelshort) September 13, 2023

Diddys daughters join him onstage at the #VMAs for a special performance #Diddy pic.twitter.com/lgoYJ8J4S7

— BroTalkLive (@brotalklive) September 13, 2023

“Of course I gotta thank God cos that’s my secret weapon. It doesn’t matter what religion you are but just make sure you know there’s a higher power of love.”

He continued by reflecting on how he started his career. “This is a dream come true for me,” he explained. “I grew up watching MTV like, ‘Man, I wish one day I could be up there. I started out as a paper boy at 12 and then I was gonna be an NFL football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers  – they didn’t know this. My leg got broke the last year and then I got depressed.

Diddy casually saying he wanted to play in the NFL, specifically for the @steelers

“The Steelers didn’t know this” #VMAs pic.twitter.com/Ofs3YIadji

— Andrew Havranek (@Andrew_Havranek) September 13, 2023

“I would be in the clubs dancing in New York, doing my Diddy bop and then people would see me and they would cast me for videos. That’s how I fell in love with the music industry. I saw the executives and wanted to chase that dream. So I want to thank every executive, every producer, every songwriter. I’ve got to thank the Bad Boy family cos without them I would not be up here. I love y’all from the bottom of my heart. The hitmen.”

He wrapped up his speech by promoting his upcoming album and saying: “This is to 30 years. I pray to God y’all get to do something that you love for 30 years consistently. It’s truly a gift from God but you can’t do it alone.”

Elsewhere at the VMAs, Lil Wayne kicked off the awards show with a performance of ‘Uproar’ and ‘Kat Food’. Olivia Rodrigo followed him with a rendition of ‘Vampire’ and ‘Get Him Back!’, recreating elements of the video for the former track.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion also gave their new collaboration ‘Bongos’ its live premiere, while Doja Cat aired three songs from her upcoming new album ‘Scarlet’. Nicki Minaj used her performance to preview ‘Pink Friday 2’ with a clip of an unreleased song.

*NSYNC reunited for the first time in a decade to present Taylor Swift with the award for Best Pop, while the pop star praised her collaborator Jack Antonoff when picking up Song Of The Year. “We will continue making music until 2089,” she joked.

Other performances still to come include Fall Out Boy, Måneskin, Stray Kids, Tomorrow X Together and Anitta, and more.

Check back to NME.com for all the latest action from the 2023 MTV VMAs as it happens.

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